Even America seems to be noticing, partly because ESPN is promoting it fairly extensively, partly because people think the U.S. has a chance to make a good showing. I’ve decided to return to my World Cup Blog, as a way to remove the inevitable soccer posts for those who don’t care. I didn’t get many readers in 2006, but it was nice to have a place to hang out, and I still have the blog … the address will be the same for 2010:

I’ll have some build-up posts in the next couple of weeks. For now, I’ll repost the last entry from 2006, as a way to remind us of what’s in store:

A critical faculty is a terrible thing. When I was eleven there were no bad films, just films that I didn’t want to see, there was no bad food, just Brussels sprouts and cabbage, and there were no bad books — everything I read was great. Then suddenly, I woke up in the morning and all that had changed. How could my sister not hear that David Cassidy was not in the same class as Black Sabbath? Why on earth would my English teacher think that The History of Mr Polly was better than Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie? And from that moment on, enjoyment has been a much more elusive quality.

— Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch

The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.

— Danny Blanchflower, inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame, twice English Footballer of the Year, holder of 56 caps for Northern Ireland

Comments

the world cup is almost here

Even America seems to be noticing, partly because ESPN is promoting it fairly extensively, partly because people think the U.S. has a chance to make a good showing. I’ve decided to return to my World Cup Blog, as a way to remove the inevitable soccer posts for those who don’t care. I didn’t get many readers in 2006, but it was nice to have a place to hang out, and I still have the blog … the address will be the same for 2010:

I’ll have some build-up posts in the next couple of weeks. For now, I’ll repost the last entry from 2006, as a way to remind us of what’s in store:

A critical faculty is a terrible thing. When I was eleven there were no bad films, just films that I didn’t want to see, there was no bad food, just Brussels sprouts and cabbage, and there were no bad books — everything I read was great. Then suddenly, I woke up in the morning and all that had changed. How could my sister not hear that David Cassidy was not in the same class as Black Sabbath? Why on earth would my English teacher think that The History of Mr Polly was better than Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie? And from that moment on, enjoyment has been a much more elusive quality.

— Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch

The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.

— Danny Blanchflower, inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame, twice English Footballer of the Year, holder of 56 caps for Northern Ireland